Apr. 3: The Impossible Gold Medalist

Swimmer Katie Ledecky, 15, was the youngest member of the 2012 U.S. Olympic team in London. A well-liked and humble student at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, Maryland, she told The Catholic Standard newspaper that she prays before each race, and goes to Mass every week because it helps her “reflect and connect with God.”

On August 3, Ledecky swam a challenging 800-meter race. Nobody, including NBC announcers Rowdy Gaines and Dan Hicks, expected the first-time Olympian to win. When she took off like a cannonball at the race’s start, they said she was expending too much energy and would dwindle. Ledecky, however, defied conventional wisdom. She was in a race, so she was going all out to win. And win she did.

It was a great night for a teenager whose Christian faith asserts things some claim are impossible. Yet here was Ledecky reminding everyone that experts can be wrong—and that people who don’t know they can’t achieve the impossible can achieve it anyway with a little faith and heart.

The human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps. (Proverbs 16:9)